


Tennis, Not Tennis, and Other Messy Things

by fulminata



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 13:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16327364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fulminata/pseuds/fulminata
Summary: Atobe invites Fudomine over for an inter-team training weekend as a last hurrah for the 3rd years.





	Tennis, Not Tennis, and Other Messy Things

**Author's Note:**

> For Mel. Happy birthday, hun! ♥

Shinji didn't mean to break the ball machine. As he explained profusely to Atobe and Tachibana-san, he had been practicing Spot when the machine just kind of spazzed then stopped working, smoke billowing from its insides. And he hadn't even set it to the fastest setting! It was on a moderate 6/10 for speed and 8/10 for feed. Seriously, couldn't Atobe have sprung for better ball machines?

"I'm sorry, Atobe," Tachibana started. "We'll replace it."

"The boy didn't mean it," Atobe said with a dismissive waving of his hand. "These are last year's models anyway. I was going to replace them before the next year started."

"Then why did you get all huffy?" Kamio asked, mimicking the expressing Atobe had taken on when he became aware of smoke billowing from court 4.

"One does not expect such high quality things to break."

"Just because it's high quality doesn't mean it won't break," Shinji muttered. "Anything can break. It's not like the machine was immune from malfunction. There's no such thing as a perfect--"

Atobe rolled his eyes as Shinji continued his diatribe. "Really, Tachibana, it's _fine_. If one of yours hadn't done it, Hiyoshi would have."

"Excuse you," Hiyoshi interjected, glaring at his soon-to-be former buchou. "Like it would have been on 6 and 8 in the first place."

"I was building up to it, you dolt. I'm not the kind of idiot who starts at 10. How the hell would you expect to build up muscle memory for the differing levels if you did that? Not everyone is going to be at a 10 all the time. Sometimes you're going to get people like Echizen who purposefully do stupid things that frustrate your--"

"Does he ever shut up?" Hiyoshi asked.

"When he's sleeping... sometimes," Ishida replied. 

Hiyoshi merely blinked at him.

"Enough, Hiyoshi," Atobe reprimanded.

"Whatever. Can the rest of us go back to practice while you deal with that?" Hiyoshi waved his hand in Shinji's general direction.

"Dude! You can't just gesture to all of Shinji like that," Kamio said loudly. "Blame your stupid ball machine for crapping out."

"Thank you, Kamio, but I can fight my own battles though I do appreciate the support nonetheless. I don't think I need _dealing with_ ," Shinji said, "but I agree that the situation in general needs to be properly addressed. Atobe-san, I can pay to have the machine either repaired or replaced, though either option will take time for me to complete and I--"

"Tachibana, please express to your teammate that he doesn't need to do that."

"..would need to get a part-time job, but I can assure you that I will work hard and provide you all of the income I receive from it. I hope that you will accept partial payments until such a time that--"

"Shinji." Tachibana's voice silenced Shinji and the other members of Fudomine who had been chattering in hushed whispers. "You really don't need to do anything. Atobe has absolved you of any responsibility."

"Regardless of Atobe-san's decision, I still wish to--"

Tachibana put a hand up. Shinji shut his mouth.

"The mere fact that you would like to repay me is enough," Atobe said. He looked at the group of Hyoutei and Fudomine players. "Please, everyone back to practice."

"About damn time," Shishido muttered, resting his racket on his shoulder as he walked away from the commotion.

Atobe was about to reprimand his fellow third year, but refrained. It wouldn't be worth the headache.

"Again, my apologies," Tachibana said with a bow.

"No need. Perhaps we should do mixed rather than individual drills."

"Excellent idea."

\--

By some stroke of dumb luck (or intentional Atobe-ness, according to Shishido), Shinji and Kamio were paired with Ohtori and Shishido. Shinji wasn't terribly fond of the combination. He thought it would have been more beneficial to pair with Kabaji and Hiyoshi or Ohtori and Hiyoshi (as a fukubuchou-buchou combo versus another fukubuchou-buchou combo), but apparently it was deemed necessary to go against these two. Nothing against Ohtori, but Shinji found Shishido annoying and thought he was a loud mouth. If given the opportunity, Shinji would have said as much, but that would have started a fight and the last thing he wanted to do right now was give Tachibana-san another reason to be upset with him.

"You can serve first, seeing as you're our guests," Ohtori said from the baseline.

Shishido rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. Shinji made a mental note of the reaction. 

"How about you serve first, Shinji?" Kamio suggested. "It'll be easier to get into the rhythm fully this way."

"It's not like you didn't already have a rhythm going before this, but I suppose you need to adjust for the opponent which makes sense," Shinji started, pulling a ball out of his pocket and bouncing it a few times before serving. "This is also a different environment than we are used to, so of course the rhythm would be different here as well."

Kamio thought he heard something, but Shinji's muttering had taken on that quality where he unconsciously tuned him out to focus on the match. He felt slightly bad, but Shishido had a heavy forehand and returning it meant not listening to whatever the hell Shinji was saying. And that turned out to be a mistake as it unintentionally disrupted his rhythm. 

The ball didn't hit the sweet spot of Kamio's racket, but the top edge, sending it flying towards the net pole where it bounced and hit Ohtori in the middle of the head.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" Kamio said. "I'm _so_ sorry. It was totally an accident. Are you okay?" He walked towards the net to see if Ohtori - who was now laying on the ground - was alright.

"Are you a fucking idiot?" Shishido asked angrily, then turned back to his doubles partner. "Hey, Choutarou, you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Ohtori slowly blinked up at him. "None, Shishido-san," he replied.

Shishido looked at his hand then quickly started rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed as he had forgotten to hold up said fingers before asking the question. "That's right," he said, maneuvering to help Ohtori sit up. "Let's get some ice on that and have you rest on one of His Highness's lounge chairs."

"I can still play."

"Nope. Not taking the chance. Let's go."

Shakily, Ohtori nodded and let Shishido lead him off the court.

"I'M REALLY SORRY," Kamio shouted to their retreating figures and received a rude gesture in return from Shishido.

"I didn't expect that to happen. I thought you were a bit out of place, but I assumed you would get back into position fast enough to compensate--"

"Stop. Talking. Shinji." Kamio took a deep breath. "I gotta tell Tachibana-san and I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything."

"Well, I hadn't really planned on it. I wasn't the one who beaned Ohtori-san in the head with a tennis ball. I wouldn't have much to add to the conversation other than that I saw what happened. I suppose I could offer Tachibana-san a series of events. I did have quite the vantage point."

Kamio groaned and left the court, hoping Tachibana-san would forgive him.

\--

"I think we might need to call it a day, Atobe," Tachibana said with a defeated tone to his voice. Kamio had supplicated himself at Tachibana's feet, begging for forgiveness for... he couldn't quite make it out as Kamio's was basically talking to the ground.

"Or these two could just sit out for awhile and we can focus on the others."

"That's not really fair," Shinji started. "I didn't do anything wrong. I'm not the one who injured someone else. I just accidentally broke an inferior ball machine. That shouldn't preclude me from--"

Tachibana held a hand up and Shinji immediately stopped talking for the second time that day. "Somehow I don't think that will work. Ishida and Sakurai are currently up against Oshitari and Hiyoshi which inevitably will become a Hadokyu endurance test." He sighed. "I have no idea what Mori and Uchimura are doing which can't be good. At least with Kamio and Shinji, I am relatively prepared for... issues."

Atobe hummed thoughtfully. "In that case, fine. We can pause for the evening. Everyone can get cleaned up and we'll have dinner around 6:30, ahn?"

"You don't need to go out of your way."

"I'm doing no such thing. You're my guests. It's only appropriate that you are cleaned and fed after today's training. I insist."

"We didn't bring the appropriate clothing."

"Neither did Shishido, so you'll fit right in." Atobe gave him a bemused smile. "Come now, let's gather our respective teams and have dinner."

\--

On the plus side, it could have gone worse. 

Tachibana had figured dinner would devolve into some sort of chaos and a food fight was at the more innocent end of the spectrum. Even with the clumps of rice stuck to the walls in some places. He hadn't wanted to blame his team as he didn't see who threw the first piece of sushi, but he doubted it was anyone on Hyoutei unless Hiyoshi or Shishido had gotten fed up.

But now, thousands of yen worth of sushi was everywhere. Including Atobe's hair. 

"I didn't start it!" Kamio said. "He did."

Tachibana couldn't tell if he was pointing at Akutagawa, who had woken up as the sushi arrived, or Taki, who was delicately plucking bits of roe from his hair.

"Why would _I_ start anything?" Taki asked. "Here I am, minding my own business when a piece of tamago smacks me in the cheek. It's rude and I want to know who's responsible."

"To be fair, the egg is good for your skin."

" _Raw_ egg, Oshitari. Not _scrambled_ ," Taki told him with a huff.

Oshitari shrugged and reached for one of the undamaged pieced of otoro, popping it into his mouth.

"How can you still be eating, man?" Shishido asked.

"I'm not about to let good sushi go to waste," Oshitari said. "By the way, Ryou, your hat is absolutely covered in wasabi."

Shishido pulled off his hat quickly to survey the damage. "Who the fuck smeared wasabi into my hat? Gakuto, I swear if you--"

"Not me, calm the fuck down," Mukahi said, hands raised. "I was aiming at the one with a towel on his head." Lowering his voice, he added, "I think I might've been the one to hit Taki."

"Someone had to," Shishido said then started laughing.

"Shishido-san, it's not funny."

"Lighten up, Choutarou. It's fucking hilarious," he said, then picked out a few pieces of ginger from Ohtori's head and flicked them onto the table.

"I don't know. Atobe-san does not look pleased."

"He rarely does and when he is, it's usually only because Tezuka is being talked about."

"Shishido-san!"

"Oh, come off it. Everyone knows Atobe has a giant hard-on for Tezuka. And I really do mean _everyone_. Except for probably Tezuka."

Oshitari and Taki both leaned unceremoniously across the table, knowing when gossip was being shared, even in whispered form. 

"It's most decidedly true," Oshitari started.

Taki nodded. "He may try to deny it all he wants, but I promise it's not false."

"Why are you all talking about someone's romantic life when they aren't here to defend themself?" Shinji asked. "Don't you find that a bit rude? I would find it a bit rude if my friends started talking about my relationships when I wasn't around, especially if they were being judgmental. Though, I suppose if it was coming from a place of actual concern, then maybe it would be okay as they are just looking after me and want what's best. In that instance, I wouldn't be that concerned about it. I still might be slightly upset that it was occurring in the first place, but once I knew the reason behind the deception, I would likely be forgiving."

Taki blinked at him. "Who is this?" he whispered to Oshitari.

"One of Tachibana's. Ibu, I believe."

"And I thought you talked a lot," Mukahi told Taki. "I guess you've just lost your title."

"Hey! Don't be mean to Shinji!" Kamio said. 

"I can take care of myself Kamio, it's fine."

"No, it's not!"

"I assure you that it wasn't meant as an insult," Oshitari said, trying to placate the redhead.

"Sure as hell sounded like one!"

"How about you not yell at Yuushi?" Mukahi said, voice rising. "It's not his fault you got a mouthy teammate."

"He might be mouthy, but he's my friend!"

"Yeah? Well, so is Yuushi. Do you wanna go?"

"I need popcorn," Shishido said, sitting back in his chair while Ohtori covered his eyes.

"Hell yes I do!"

Shinji put a hand on Kamio's shoulder and pushed him back down into his seat.

"Ryou, please." Oshitari pleaded, nodding to Mukahi.

"You owe me." Shishido grabbed his arm and yanked him back into his seat.

"Anything your heart desires."

"I like the sound--"

"I DIDN'T START IT EITHER!" came the shout from the other end of the table.

"Calm down, Hiyoshi. I wasn't blaming you," Atobe said.

"Sure as hell sounded like it."

"You need to listen better," Ishida said. 

"What did you say?"

"Exactly."

Tachibana gave Atobe a withering look. The Hyoutei captain stood and snapped his fingers, the acoustics of the dining room making the sound echo. The chatter ceased.

"This has been a rather... eventful day. We applaud your interactions and teamwork. While this," Atobe said, gesturing to the mess, "was not what Tachibana and I had planned for interteam mingling, we think this has been a good exercise in that. Please take yourselves to the washrooms and clean up."

"Fudomine," Tachibana said firmly. "You'll stay put and help clean."

Each one of them nodded solemnly. Before Atobe could complain, Tachibana shook his head. "I'm fully aware you have people for this, but my team is partially responsible and as their captain, it would be a poor display of leadership on my part if I let them think they got away with something."

"In that case, we will _all_ help clean."

Shishido, Mukahi, and Hiyoshi all looked towards Atobe, dumbfounded.

"I'll send for the cleaning supplies," Atobe told Tachibana. "Then we can get started."

\--

Three hours later, the dining room was clean and the members of Fudomine and Hyoutei, minus their captains, were passed out from exhaustion in pairs all over the room.

"I would call this a success, Tachibana."

"Despite all the troubles?"

Atobe nodded. "Though I suggest we take some time to properly sort out who is paired with who before activities fully get under way tomorrow."

"Agreed." Tachibana looked upon the sleeping tennis players. "Should we wake them?"

"I think not. It would be amusing to let them wake on their own and have a minor panic about who they fell asleep next to or on top of." Atobe chuckled. "I have a security camera. The footage will be most enjoyable."

Tachibana nodded and smiled. "Let's call it a night. We can watch it over breakfast."

"Sounds delightful. Michael will see you to your room. The others as well whenever they wake, so don't worry. Have a good night, Tachibana."

"Thanks, Atobe, and you too." He gave the Hyoutei captain a bow then carefully stepped over the limbs of various tennis players on his way out. 

On his way to the room Atobe had provided, Tachibana hoped that the next day would not be nearly as disastrous and made a mental note to keep Kamio and Shinji apart for as long as possible.


End file.
